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While she knows she is lucky to be alive, Cheryl Risse says nothing in her life is the same since losing her legs in the train accident.Cheryl Risse has to crawl to the bathroom, but she often wakes up in a dead sprint.

Her recurring nightmares have become expected, but no less terrifying.

One day, Risse, 33, hopes to walk down the aisle. But for now, she'd like merely to escape the haunting sound of trains rumbling past her Pompano Beach home six times a day.

It's been nearly a year since both Risse's legs were severed by a Florida East Coast Railway train after she tripped while jogging across tracks less than a mile from her home.

By all accounts -- hers included -- it is a miracle she survived the horrific July 5 accident.

(snip)

The morning of the accident, Risse, an avid runner, tried to cross three sets of FEC tracks in the 2100 block of North Dixie Highway.

She wore iPod headphones as she ran through the open stretch of track -- not a legal crossing. She didn't see -- or hear -- FEC locomotive No. 421, which was backing up adjacent to boxcars that are often parked in the middle set of tracks.

Risse tripped, didn't get up in time, and the train's wheels severed both her legs, dragging her before she rolled free of the engine.

(snip)

Still, Risse has a mountain of medical bills and no regular income with which to pay them.

And so, with the help of Fort Lauderdale attorneys Stephen L. Malove and Scott L. Henratty, she has filed a negligence lawsuit against FEC, the train's engineer and its brakeman.

The eight-count complaint states that the company should have known that pedestrians routinely cross the tracks at that location but did not post ''No Trespassing'' signs on the west side of the tracks.
'

More at the link. This seems to happen constantly. I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for her. She was deliberately inattentive and she was trespassing in a highly dangerous area.

The eight-count complaint states that the company should have known that pedestrians routinely cross the tracks at that location but did not post ''No Trespassing'' signs on the west side of the tracks.

Yeah, I guess pedestrians shoud also know that trains routinely run on the tracks too!

That reminds me of this;

A brunette is standing on some train tracks, jumping from rail to
rail, saying "21" "21" "21".

A Blonde walks up, sees her and decides to join her. She also starts jumping from rail to rail, saying "21" "21" "21".
Suddenly, the brunette hears a train whistle, and she jumps off the

tracks just as the Blonde is splattered all over the place.
The brunette goes back to jumping from rail to rail,

counting, "22" "22" "22".

And this.

Two gorgeous blonde biologists were in the field one fine summer day. While following a game trail, they came across a pair of tracks. "Look! a pair of tracks" The first blonde said while pointing to the ground.
"Those are deer tracks," the other blonde replied.

"Oh no,"she said to the first, "Those are definitely moose tracks."
With this, they began to argue. In fact, they were still arguing when the train hit them.

Proof Positive that in any contest between a person and a locomotive, the smart money is on the locomotive.

While I feel bad for her plight, one has to wonder WTF she was thinking...
The train was where it was supposed to be.
She was not.
Simple as that.

What sickens me, is the fact that these lawyers are willing to take such a case.
I think that the FEC should counter-sue for charges to clean up the mess on train and tracks. They cannot leave the mess just sit there... some endangered animals might venture onto the tracks to scavenge a snack, and get run over, too.

That was sick, right??
Damn.
Sorry about that.

Social Order at the expense of Liberty is hardly a bargain - Marquis de Sade

The eight-count complaint states that the company should have known that pedestrians routinely cross the tracks at that location but did not post ''No Trespassing'' signs on the west side of the tracks.

Sounds like a lawyer's idea. I doubt that even she is stupid enough to come up with that load of bull.

This used to happen a lot in Royal Oak, MI, which is a trendy little suburb with a lot of trendy bars and restaurants in a small downtown area that has train tracks through it, and frequent trains, including Amtrak. Lots of drunk 20 somethings would wander along the tracks, or fail to stop when they saw a signal at the crosswalk. I read in the paper that the RO police stepped up enforcement of things like trespassing on railroad property and public intoxication, and there hasn't been an accident in a while.